15 hours after the conclusion of the opening race of this weekend’s London E-Prix season finale, the results have finally been confirmed by Formula E.
The opening race of the final weekend of the 2022/23 Formula E season was a chaotic one, with the stewards having been busy long into the night at the ExCeL Centre. Several drivers were summoned to the stewards post-race following a catalogue of incidents which caused plenty of arguments.
Seconds before the start of free practice 3 on Sunday morning, the results from the first race were finally confirmed, as was Sérgio Sette Câmara’s disqualification from the race.
The NIO 333 driver had provisionally finished in a superb P5; however, he was disqualified from the race after the Chinese team ignored instructions from the FIA. Sette Câmara rejoined the circuit following the second red flag of the action-packed race without a front wing, following earlier damage.
NIO were instructed by the FIA to fit a new front wing, something the side failed to do, resulting in the Brazilian’s disqualification. Controversially, multiple drivers completed the final laps without a front wing, resulting in the governing body’s consistency being questioned by a few drivers.
Sette Câmara’s penalty was the heaviest dished out by the stewards, but not by much. António Félix da Costa was slapped with a three-minute time penalty for ending the race with low pressure in one of his tyres, something Porsche informed the FIA about before the race resumed after the second red flag.
Da Costa had a slow puncture late on; however, the tyre was structurally intact. His penalty demoted him from second to P16, but Porsche are planning to appeal .In total, nine drivers received penalties or warnings in the opening race, yet none were as harsh as Da Costa’s and Sette Câmara’s.
André Lotterer, Maximilian Günther and Norman Nato all received five-second time penalties for causing a collision, with Nato having informed Motorsport Week that Nissan intended to appeal the penalty.
Nato’s collision with Sébastian Buemi is what caused the second red flag in the eventful race. All three drivers received a penalty point as well.
Roberto Merhi was given a 10-second time penalty for hitting Jake Hughes, which almost flipped the British driver at Turn 3. The Spaniard was slapped with two penalty points for the incident.
That wasn’t all, as Robin Frijns was hit with a three-place grid penalty for the final race of the season, whilst he was also given a penalty point. Sacha Fenestraz and Nico Müller were both given reprimands as well.
Once all the penalties were added, Mitch Evans remained as the race winner, whilst World Champion Jake Dennis inherited second from Da Costa. Buemi completed the top three. Sam Bird was promoted to fourth ahead of Edoardo Mortara, Lucas Di Grassi, Dan Ticktum, Nato, Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Hughes, completing the top 10.
